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Russia Blames Ukraine For Gas Depot Blaze
Ust-Luga Container terminal, Russia - 1 October 2016 (Public Domain)
January 22, 2024
By RFE/RL's Russian Service
The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for a blaze at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga that broke out on January 21.
Asked about the fire, which led to the suspension of some operations at the terminal near Russia's border with Estonia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Ukraine was "striking civil infrastructure, people."
The fire at the terminal operated by the Russian energy company Novatak erupted following reports of drone sightings in the area.
The fire was caused by two explosions, state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti cited local officials as saying.
The agency said on January 21 that the fire had been contained to a 100-cubic-meter fuel depot at the terminal, located about 110 kilometers west of St. Petersburg.
Leningrad regional Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said on Telegram that there were no casualties as a result of the blaze and that the local fire service and the Emergency Situations Ministry were involved in the effort to extinguish it.
The incident comes amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, which has been marked by frequent drone attacks by each side.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of targeting energy and other key infrastructure during the winter cold in an effort to break the Ukrainian people's will to fight following Moscow's unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Moscow claimed on January 19 that a Ukrainian drone attack had hit an oil depot in Russia's western Bryansk region. One day earlier, Russian officials claimed that an attempted attack on a Baltic Sea oil terminal was unsuccessful.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry traditionally does not comment on or claim responsibility for attacks Moscow claims Kyiv has carried out on Russian territory.
Copyright © Jan 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 conncwsecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. http://www.rferl.org
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